Children don't stay young forever and can become extremely challenging as they enter their teenage years. Discipline in some circumstances can be tricky, as you don't want to push them away.
One dad was slammed by other parents for his actions after his daughter was rude to him, The Mirror reports. After the confrontation, the dad punished her by throwing away her food.
The dad, who is 44 and a single dad to 16-year-old Audrey and Emily, 12, told Reddit he has a 'great relationship' with his children but Audrey can sometimes be rude and demeaning, saying cruel things casually when she's displeased about something or in a bad mood. Emily (her little sister) looks up to her, often mimicking her behavior [sic] which obviously worries me."
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The man shared that he'd made a "nice Sunday dinner", but all hell broke loose when Audrey stormed downstairs in a bad mood.
He wrote: "She was being a downer whereas Emily and I were cheerful. I asked her to improve her mood please instead of ruining the dinner, she turned to me and unleashed her anger. To quote some of her elegant words 'Can you stop lecturing for once'." She went on to use an expletive before adding "seriously you're the one who ruins everything.'"
The dad went on to say: "I stood up, took her plate, and dumped it in the trashcan. I told her since she can't bother to show me any basic respect, she should start providing for herself from now on.
"She said she'll make cereal and maybe I was an a**hole, I said no that's my milk and she should get a job to get her own groceries. I don't feel like I yelled at her, I felt I spoke calmly but when she realised I was being serious, she got upset and started crying and ran to her room."
He shared that they "haven't talked since", and both his daughters are mad at him. His younger daughter said he "acted like a huge jerk", but he admitted he didn't see it that way.
The dad finished the post off by stating he won't be winning a dad of the year award, but he wanted to know whether he'd been unreasonable. In the comments, he was slammed for his behaviour, with one writing: "If someone is in a bad mood asking them to not be in a bad mood and accusing them of ruining something is probably not the right approach."
Someone agreed, and they said: "This 1000%. That approach has not worked once in history. She's freakin 16 on top of things." A parent recommended another approach that could have worked, suggesting the dad say: "'Your feelings are valid. I'm sorry you are in a s*** mood. But I worked hard on this dinner; hurting my feelings won't heal yours.
"If a plate or cereal in your room would better serve you tonight, okay. I deserve to be spoken to with respect regardless of your feelings. When you are ready to do that, come down. When you are ready to talk, if ever, I'm ready to listen.'" A Redditor raged: "Food toward a dependent in your care is not a luxury you are providing for good behavior, it is your legal responsibility....and I agree with your daughter, here. She's 100% correct in the elegant words she chose."
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